Wednesday, May 25, 2005

Smilin' Norm Coleman's lost love

The Strib notes where Smilin' Norm Coleman chose to stand throughout the filibuster debate:

This is why the fringe fundamentalists are so incensed at the compromise. It means, as one wag said, that James Dobson of Focus on the Family won't get to name the next Supreme Court justice. And thank goodness for that. The radical Dobson and friends, and those in the Senate eager to do their bidding, went for broke on this, and they lost. They sought absolute power to do whatever they wanted, and seven Republican senators who care about the special character of their chamber said, "No." We note that Sen. Norm Coleman was not among them. He sided unequivocally with Dobson and his ultraconservative, sectarian fellow travelers.

Well, he would've, but Smilin' Norm's got not soul, no poetry -- he's nothing but an empty suit and a gavel, smiling wanly as his higher ambitions drift away and away, ever upwards and away into the ether.